“Have you ever been in love, D’Arbignal?”
“Sure,” he said, “all the time!”
The Cyclops began to despair. If she couldn’t share this with D’Arbignal then there was no one.
“No,” she said, turning away. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
D’Arbignal touched the side of her face, gently bringing her back around to face him. His expression was more somber now. “My apologies. What did you mean?”
She sighed and thought back to her time with Hernando, so many years ago. The shame, the loss, the anguish, and the pain all resurfaced in her mind as fresh.
She shook her head.
“Forget about it,” she said.
“If you don’t tell me,” he said, eyes gleaming conspiratorially, “then I won’t show you the last surprise I have for you in this bag…”
She felt enervated. She had had almost no sleep last night, then Marco telling her that he was casting her out, and now this. She wished she were made of sand, so that the winds and rains would erode her into nothingness. Nothingness was where she’d be happiest.
“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “No, I need to get ready for tonight. Marco told me that he’s kicking me out after this run. I won’t be coming with you when you leave Per.”
D’Arbignal raised an eyebrow.
“Did he now?” His jaw jutted and his eyes narrowed. “We’ll just have to see about that.”
“What do you mean?” the Cyclops asked.
D’Arbignal tapped his nose, a sly grin on his face. “The answer to that is in this bag, and you don’t get to see what’s in the bag until you tell me about ‘being in love.’”
She considered his ultimatum. Her brain felt ponderous in her depression.
At length, she decided.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll tell —”
Pahula entered the tent. Her eyes first narrowed on D’Arbignal and then widened when she saw the Cyclops.
“Cyclops, you look … bootiful! And that dress! It is—how you say?—gorgeous!”
“Sorry, we’re closed for a special reception,” D’Arbignal said, ushering the Tattooed Lady out of the tent. “Only ladies and knaves. General admission resumes in one hour.”
“Like I said,” Pahula grumbled from outside the tent. “Low.”
“Sorry about that,” D’Arbignal said. “But you were saying something about being in love…?”
YOU ARE READING
A Lesson for the Cyclops
RomanceDare to Hope? Maria leads a lonely existence of silent misery. Horribly disfigured, she earns a meager living as a sideshow freak. Her very existence is one of mockery, contempt, and ridicule. She has no hope, no dreams. No future. But when a dashin...
